Europe will never be the same
Statement by the board of ISM
- Hanno Bruchmann
After the 12th of July Europe will never be the same again. We document here the statement by the board of ISM, which caused a lot of reactions. The anger about the effective blackmailing of the greek government and thereby the strike against the OXI is still there.
Yet the movement of refugees and migrants gives another task to a humanitarian and solidary Europe as we want it to be. Many refugees arrive in Greece and the EU blocks a better treatment by restricting financial help. The brought social #RefugeesWelcome-movement is struggling together with the refugees against racism and more restrictive laws for asylum seekers. We won't let them do another coup. No borders can stop the people. Our call remains: Stand up for democracy. Stand up for Europe. Stand up for solidarity.
#ThisIsACoup #RefugeesWelcome #ThisIsAMovement
Europe will never be the same
After close to seven years of austerity and humiliation, of devastated dreams and hopes, on the 5th of July 2015, the Greek people made their choice. Their choice was impressive, unmistakable, and unanimous. Their choice said OXI/No, although the shock and awe of the international media campaign; the threat of a forced Grexit; the fears. The forgotten and the excluded braved their fears. They expressed their hope, their worries, and their emotions. They chose and answered OXI, and they denied carrying the burden of their existence, and the Memorandum any longer.
The referendum confirmed the Greek break up. However, this confirmed break up is interrupted by a coup, by external forces. Each and everyone can see it. Everyone knows it. This coup didn’t happen for economical reasons, but for political alone. Athens was and is not allowed to become the example for a democratic break with austerity. Athens was and is not allowed to become a blueprint either for Madrid, Dublin, Glasgow, or for Paris and Rome. The alignment of this political attack with the looting of what is left of public property via a newly formed trust in Brussels, Luxemburg, or elsewhere, is highly appreciated. The party Schäuble has no trouble to add insult to injury, to add the despair of the millions to the billions of the few. Keep calm and carry on. Just like Chile 1973. The then general secretary of the same party Schäuble, the CDU, commented on the mass incarceration: "In sunny springtime, life is pleasant inside a stadium.” We did not forget.
One step too far. The SPD supports, and the European Social democracy does not contradict what chancellor Merkel and the minister of finance Schäuble penetrated during the bargaining in Brussels. Thus, the historical decline of the social democracy will further. Their breakdown is in their own responsibility. There is nothing else for us but to acknowledge this as a fact.
One step too far. Time for a new start. Over the last weekend, hundreds, thousands have been untied from old bonds. There are lots of places for a new start. Where to start is to be decided by those who will start. A fresh start is also possible from within familiar places, to continue the struggle with long standing comrades and friends. However, we need to recognize the fact that this is one step too far. It is a matter of importance now, that the different efforts, the different places, the different people come together; that the multiple voices will become but one single stream, but one collective aim. The collective aim is obvious. The collective aim is to achieve the final rupture with neoliberalism, with market-conform democracy; to come to ends with the attack of the nasty German nation state against the whole continent. The collective aim is about to bring back to politics and against the killing spree of the economy.
A first precondition for a new start is the public. One step too far: This holds true for the decline of the media as well. A "discoursive shift” is no longer enough, either within published opinion or in the different partitions of the party Schäuble and the nasty German nation state. What we need is a collection of dissent against the destruction of the Greek (and all other) democracy, against the dictatorial rights of the Troika and the IWF; against TTIP; against old and new asylum law and regulation; against mass data retention; against the law on tariff unity; against the roll back of the turnaround of energy policy; against the project combining all the attacks to a single one.
Stand up for democracy. Stand up for Europe. Stand up for solidarity.
We must not dismantle but widen the already too visible ruptures. Still, it is not on us to define the ruptures. Each and everyone will be able to define his or her rupture. But we all will need a new space to try again. To try better. We need (to create) an alternative space. We mean what we say and we act accordingly. We are convinced that they are ways in which to collect and combine all the different versions of "No!” to a single, a collective Yes!.
The time in now. Let’s take our time.
Keep in mind: They went one step too far. #ThisIsACoup
Board of ISM, 14th July 2015
